That was abundantly clear to me this morning as I struggled with dumbbell repetitions at a City View Christian Fellowship fitness class.

I’m working on an article about faith communities that provide opportunities for physical fitness for congregants and the community. Look for the full article in late June, and short first-person blogs about what I’m seeing until then.

I love stories of extraordinary forgiveness. It makes it easier for me to forgive my husband when he forgets to do the dishes, or the girl who called me ugly when I was ten. How silly those little grudges seem when I read a story like Rais Bhuiyan’s.

Yesterday, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) announced its approval of a change to its constitution that would permit gays to be ordained. While votes are still be tallied, PC (USA) announced last night that "it appears that a majority of the 173 presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have approved a change in PC(USA) ordination standards." The change is expected to be effective on July 10.( Read the statement from PC (USA).)

You may know that I’m the A-J’s faith reporter. You may not know that part of my job entails attending faith gatherings around town. For weeks now, I’ve been making my way to various places of worship. And now I’m ready to tell you all about it. I’m calling these short dispatches “Faith Reports.”

Now, I won’t be endorsing or panning any faith groups in my Faith Reports. This isn’t a review, after all. And I won’t be doing any undercover, gotcha journalism, or quoting people out of context. That’s not really how I roll.

You know those billboards claiming the world will end on May 21? They have at least one 8-year-old terrified. I got this post on the A-J Faith Facebook page:

"My friend's step-daughter (I believe she is 8) is panicking about the end of the world. She believes that it is on a billboard so it must be true. My friend has been reaching out to friends and family on how to calm her fears (true or not)."

I contacted my Facebook buddies about this issue, and thought they had some good advice. Here’s a synopsis of their thoughts: